


Based On Your Artistic Expression

by scapegoat



Series: Abstracts & Anomalies For The Budding Artist [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Art School, Asexual Character, Awkward Sexual Situations, Childhood Friends, Crossdressing, Depression, Disabled Character, Discrimination, Drinking, Families of Choice, Food Porn, Friendship is Magic, Hospitals, Icha Icha Series, Internal Conflict, Japanese Culture, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Japanese-American Character, Language of Flowers, Male-Female Friendship, Misunderstandings, Ninken | Ninja Dogs, Pansexual Character, Platonic Cuddling, Porn Watching, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Ramen, Recreational Drug Use, Resolved Sexual Tension, Rival Relationship, Self-Acceptance, Self-Discovery, Self-Harm, Sexuality Crisis, Slow Build, Speed Dating, Talking Animals, Therapy, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Yamanaka Ino: Flower Whisperer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-11-26
Packaged: 2018-02-27 02:14:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2675102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scapegoat/pseuds/scapegoat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To say Haruno Sakura considers herself "normal" would be the understatement of a lifetime. It didn't matter that her two best friends were unusual; it was what made them interesting.</p><p>Coming from a wealthy family Sakura had a plan set in motion for her adult life. Said plan gets derailed almost violently when Sakura ends up befriending a teenager she meets during a bisexual speed dating event she's coerced into.</p><p>After that, well, things get... interesting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Based On Your Artistic Expression

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Like in the issue of my other stories, I own nothing and make no money from writing.

Haruno Sakura was many things: avid reader, intern at a local hospital, connoisseur of alcoholic beverages, a personal shopper to her idiot best friend.... the list went on; said list excluded the fact that she, for one, was not a romance expert. In any sense of the word. She didn’t do romance on her part or anyone else’s so when her idiot best friend coerced her into something called speed dating she was about to decline when she was not to gently reminded of a few dozen solids she had yet to pay up on. If one thing Sakura hated it was being indebted – especially to people she couldn’t physically harm.  
  
She’d take a loan from the yakuza and risk getting her fingers cut off than doing something like this. _However,_ if she did in fact get her fingers cut off working at the hospital might be impossible.  
  
“Sakura-chan, it really isn’t that bad. I got forced into this thing too you know.” Sakura stopped pacing in her bedroom then glared at the blond sprawled out, spread eagle on her bed. He had the gall to sit there looking unfazed as if he was... _immune_ to her glare then he continued munching on potato chips of all things. She was sure he was leaving crumbs on her bed but he happily went on eating without a care in the world _.  
  
_ Sakura quickly fastened her hair into a bun with the assistance of a few pins she had on her shirt collar. It was something she did when she was pissed and when she was around the blond her hair was in a bun more often than not.  
  
“Uh, Sakura-chan?” As Sakura went back to pacing she paused once more taking in the navy-haired girl on the bed beside the blond subtly taking a few offered chips every now and again. “If this bothers you so greatly you don’t have to—”  
  
The blond sprang up startling the other occupant of the bed, “hold on Hinata-chan she _has_ to do this. Its a solid, she can’t ignore a solid.” Sakura growled. “Besides, you owe me a solid too.”  
  
Hinata sighed, “I know Naruto-kun but _speed dating_? Do people even still do that?”  
  
“Hell if I know. Karin bitched at me and I’m calling in some favors so I don’t do it alone. You should be lucky its one of those bisexual speed dating things.” Hinata blushed at that. “So I did you a favor.”  
  
Sakura wasn’t even going to attempt to join their conversation. She, case and point, liked guys. She barely tolerated females as a whole except for Hinata who was her best friend – _one of her best friends_ with the other being the obnoxious blond beside Hinata. Hinata, on the other hand, was on the fence about her sexuality claiming she couldn’t discriminate against gender since both of them had so much to offer. For all the old-fashioned shit the Hyūga clan were all about they were surprisingly liberal about sex. Hinata was the damn heir to the family but her father didn’t care if she slept with men or women as long as she produced an heir. He made Sakura promise him to do that before she hit thirty-five if she had not done it herself; only seven more years. But Hinata’s little sister, Hanabi, was about twenty-two (or something) with a serious case of baby fever and despite not being the heir was dead set on ‘not having a baby in the traditional sense’ case and point Hanabi was more certainly not on the fence with her sexuality. Their father, Hiashi, met Hanabi’s girlfriend and Sakura and Naruto were surprised he actually approved of her. Not because she was a woman but because Moegi was slightly insane – even by Hyūga family standards.  
  
“Fucking solid...” Sakura muttered. Karin was _known_ for doing things last minute so when Naruto (dragging along Hinata) barreled into her room telling her about this shit they had to go to in like three hours needless to say Sakura was pissed. She spent forty minutes cursing out Karin before trying to find a way out of the situation and when she couldn’t she started pacing hence where they were now.  
  
“Put on something pretty... and skimpy.” Naruto said with a nod. “You get brownie points for skimpy.” Sakura rolled her eyes. “You two are about the same size, right? Uh... excluding bust size so lend Hinata-chan something skimpy too.”  
  
Hinata long since got used to Naruto complimenting, not so subtly gazing or even just talking about her breasts. Sure, they were big and made Sakura seem like a damn ironing board in comparison but they were just clumps of fat attached to her body. No reason for people to go all nuts about them! That thought alone pissed Sakura off. She didn’t want hers Hinata sized just _slightly_ bigger – which translated into about two number sizes and a full cup size bigger. Not too difficult. If she was in that particular part of the hospital for her internship she would have already made an appointment for it. She was rich so money wasn’t an option, though she wasn’t allowed since it was an issue of ‘immorality.’  
  
She didn’t make her case valid when her argument involved international movie stars with fake lips.  
  
The oddest thing about Naruto was he wasn’t even into breasts; Sakura didn’t know Naruto’s sexuality from a freaking hole in the wall but he – as much as he clamored about Hinata’s rack – was more into asses than anything else. The boy _stared_ at asses as if his life depended on it. But Sakura’s paled in comparison with Hinata’s there too.  
  
Sakura could never say she was friends with Hinata to make herself look or feel better, no one would believe her.  
  
| |  
  
Two hours later, Sakura found herself dressed in a red dress shirt and a pair of black pants. Because this was a ‘dating’ scenario one had to dress fancy but not business suit or floral dress fancy. Sakura shuddered at that though. Hinata, to her left, had on a lavender dress that matched her freakishly beautiful eyes; and Naruto on her right had a black dress shirt with a freaking _orange_ tie and a pair of jeans. _Jeans!_ Sakura screamed at him for about fifteen minutes before Hinata corralled her. Karin was on Hinata’s left wearing a pink shirt and a black mini skirt. Why that idiot wore pink when Sakura wore red was mind boggling. Karin had fucking red hair and Sakura’s was pink so while Sakura’s favorite color was red Karin simply wore pink to piss Sakura off. It wasn’t the same pink as Sakura’s hair though. Nevertheless, it didn’t make Sakura any less pissed.  
  
“Hi!” Karin said in her chipper intern voice that grated on Sakura’s nerves. “I’m Senju Karin.” The man behind the greeter/greeting station nodded giving her one of those _hello my name is_ stickers with her given name already on it which she happily stuck on the left side of her chest.  
  
Hinata cleared her throat, “Hyūga Hinata?” The man nodded again soughing out Hinata’s name sticker handing it to her. She thanked the man then moved to the side.  
  
Sakura idly wondered what they’d do for people who had the same given name. Her thoughts were derailed when Naruto nudged her, she noticed his sticker was on his chest too so she sighed. “Haruno Sakura.” She said begrudgingly. The man picked up a Sakura named sticker handing it to her. Sakura eyed the sticker briefly then nodded taking it. Walking with her group, before she left she noticed eight other stickers all with the name Sakura on them. She knew she had a common name but come on! Seriously? Nine women named Sakura in the same speed dating location? Sakura didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that piece of information.  
  
“Okay!” Some weirdly overly peppy voice called out from overhead. “Daters to your stations! Since we’re mingling with the genders everyone on the left side keeps their seats while daters on the right move around. If you find someone you want to keep talking to but don’t want to leave with flip the number on your table down so the next person will skip over you.”  
  
That seemed a bit unfair but nevertheless Sakura all but grabbed Hinata and Naruto dragging them to their seats on the left. She sat in the middle because all throughout high school sitting next to Naruto was a sure fire way to fend off boredom and she couldn’t possibly have Hinata out of her sight nor within speaking range of Naruto. Therefore she was the buffer between them. Hinata seemed like the stereotypical mousy girl but she was close friends with Naruto; there was a sarcastic, foul-mouthed hedonist within her that was not above making lewd comments whether the situation called for them or not and Naruto was merely fuel to that fire. Though Sakura suspected Hinata was the more like the fuel in most situations.  
  
More people started filing in and Sakura couldn’t care less that she lost Karin in the mess. The redhead was Naruto’s cousin not hers but if she started bitching they’d all hear about it.  
  
A brunette walked by with a damn Sakura sticker on her shirt, a few seconds later a blond, then a woman with green hair of all things. “Damn Sakura is a popular name.” Naruto said with a whistle leaning back, “I feel overdressed, can I take off this stupid thing?”  
  
“You really shouldn’t Naruto-kun.” Hinata said leaning forward causing him to do the same albeit begrudgingly. “Its one of those somewhat classy events.”  
  
“He’s wearing orange sneakers Hinata, he’s so far past the classy part of this event.” Naruto made some kind of noise – a cross between a snort and a laugh – then went back to leaning back but he put his hands behind his head. Sakura was tempted to kick his chair making him fall giving her an excuse to leave under the pretense of checking him for head injuries but her damn curiosity rooted her on the spot. Still, she couldn’t believe she was passing on the opportunity to tell someone to _‘trust her because she was a doctor.’_   
  
As the left side filled with men and women alike that damn voice from earlier returned. “Alright! Lets begin! You’ll have eight minutes to talk to your date about just about anything!” That last part added an annoying amount of enthusiasm before the voice continued. “Once you hear the bell chime and you do not wish to continue the person you are talking to move along to the next person. People on the right will move in a zig zag pattern to the table across from them. Later on in the evening the people on the left will do the same.” Sakura was horrified but at the same time she’s still be next to Naruto and Hinata if they all moved a seat over _zig-zag._ But what fucking kind of logic did these people have? If everyone moved in the same direction they could possibly go back on a ‘date’ with someone they presumably already ‘dated’ from the right side.  
  
Then again this whole thing was sheer nonsense.  
  
The right side started to be filled at random. “Just a reminder.” The peppy voice said with a splash of even more peppiness. “You can’t move until the bell chimes. So even if you and your partner don’t hit it off you’ll have to stay the full eight minutes.” Someone, presumably Naruto, loudly groaned beside her though it could have been Hinata because she didn’t look too pleased either. In fact a couple of people groaned out loud. “Sorry~” The voice sure as hell didn’t sound apologetic in the least. “Rules are rules. Begin dating!” A bell chimed and Sakura looked down at the fairly attractive brunet in front of her.  
  
She, as well as the other left side daters, were provided with a glass of water. She would have preferred wine but they were probably banking on people being sober for this thing.  
  
The fairly attractive brunet leaned forward smiling. In the general representation of disinterest, Sakura leaned back in her seat with her arms folded over her chest but not covering her name. “So... what did you want to talk about Sakura?” Raising an eyebrow, Sakura took in the man’s posture. He, unlike her, clearly was interested in being here. Whether it was to pick up a pity fuck or do genuinely want to date someone was neither on a need to know basis or something she truly cared about but either way he wasn’t doing any of those things with her.  
  
Sakura glanced at the name sticker with a raised eyebrow. “Nothing in particular but feel free to talk about yourself.” And the guy did... with gusto. He kept babbling to the point where Sakura wasn’t even attempting to half listen like she normally did when she was bored. She was going to offer the guy some water so he could slow down (or even stop) with his talking and take a damn breather but he might take that for flirting so she decided against it.  
  
“Oh my gosh, seriously!?” Sakura was startled, to say the least, when the girl at the table next to her slammed her hands down. “Dude! You definitely need to get me an autograph!”  
  
“Hmm...” Naruto tapped his chin, “Sure. I’ll definitely get you an autograph.”  
  
“Oh I love you so much right now Naruto!” She squealed. Wasn’t it the idiot’s luck that he found a worshiper of his godfather’s porn. Because people didn’t just read the Icha Icha series they fucking _lived it_. It was close to becoming an actual religion a few years back that also resulted the book’s author getting arrested while Naruto nearly got deported.  
  
Sakura internally shuddered. Yeah, that was a dark time.  
  
As much of an annoyance as Naruto was having him shipped off to the states like some kind of return to sender postage wasn’t exactly something comforting, nor was it something she wanted to experience. Occasionally, the thought alone gave her nightmares.  
  
Hinata, on her right, seemed to be doing well. Their conversation was inaudible even though Sakura was right next to her. She didn’t want to think about the guy in front of Hinata but he wasn’t speaking all that loud either.  
  
A bell chimed _loudly_ and the guy sprang up shaking her hand before walking off with the right side daters. There was a fifteen second break before the next ‘date’ could start. “Man, I hope they have food here.” Naruto groaned. “How many dates are we supposed to have before we fucking blow this place to high Heaven dattebayo?”  
  
“Well, dates are usually anywhere from a half-hour to two hours.”  
  
“There is no way in hell I’m listening to two hours worth of idiots babbling every eight minutes.”  
  
“Eight eights are sixty-four so we’d get seven dates if we stayed for an hour.” Hinata frowned as Sakura turned to glare at her. “You might not get a babbler next time.”  
  
Then the damn bell chimed again. This time a woman was in front of Sakura. Oh and the woman was _named_ Sakura. How perfect! “You’re Sakura too?” The blonde replied laughing, “that’s crazy! You know my last date was a Sakura too.” The pink-haired Sakura forced a smile. Overall the woman wasn’t hard on the eyes not that Sakura made it a habit to check out girls or anything but when Hinata would stare awkwardly at girls that attempted to flirt with her it was something she unfortunately picked up.  
  
Unlike the last guy, Sakura and the blonde Sakura actually had a bit of a conversation until the bell chimed. They shook hands and parted amicably. The narcissist in her approved slightly. “No bad people named Sakura, huh?” Hinata teased with a grin causing Sakura to frown.  
  
The next four dates, however, didn’t go as well. Even though date number five had another Sakura but that damn redhead must have had a name change because no one with the name Sakura could possibly be _that_ obnoxious. Date three was a much _older_ gentleman – and even if Sakura were into older guys the fact that he had a _grand_ daughter her age was definitely a turn off; not to sound discriminating or anything. Date number four was some kind of goth weirdo that kept staring at Hinata’s chest the entire time not even bothering to address Sakura which kinda pissed her off... for a number of reasons. Date number six was another guy, he was kinda plain looking but the mention of his four pet lizards did not bode well for Sakura.  
  
So ‘lucky’ date number seven didn’t seem to get the message of the ‘lucky’ bit when she came face to face with Karin. “Seriously?”  
  
“Yup.” She grinned leaning forward. “Was right over there...” She pointed to some chair across the room, Sakura didn’t care and she didn’t bother looking either. “You should be _thrilled_ I’m your date for the next eight minutes.”  
  
“You didn’t notice? As it is, I can barely contain my joy.”  
  
“Is that so? Can’t see it. Your crankiness must be hiding it too well.” Karin leaned back in the chair. “So... any interesting dates?”  
  
“I’m going to have to respond in the negative on that one slick.”  
  
Karin pursed her lips. “I’ve been having shit luck too. First some perv tries to feel me up by ‘subtly’ dropping his pen so I stomped on his foot. The next two guys were busy eye fucking the people next to me. Lets see there was this lady who wouldn’t stop talking about her grandkids. A guy with a _weird_ science fiction obsession. Some fight crazy chick wrapped up tighter than a fucking mummy and lastly you. And, as much as I’d hate to say it, your company is probably the best out of all of them.”  
  
“Must have been hell.”  
  
Before Karin could reply the bell chimed. “See ya on the other side.” Sakura waved as Karin walked off. Sakura didn’t think fifteen seconds could pass by so damn slow. People were just walking around generally looking lost, a few were talking to their peers also standing, then there were the people simply standing awkwardly.  
  
Then the bell chimed again. Sakura sighed then a blonde deposited herself on the seat so hard that it shook a little. Out the corner of her eye Sakura saw Hinata staring before her ‘date’ came to his seat. The blonde, who oddly enough sat with her eyes closed, opened her green eyes slowly.  
  
“Hey.” She greeted somewhat bored, “you’re like the fifth Sakura I bumped into tonight but the first to date.”  
  
“And you’re the first Ino I saw or dated.”  
  
The blonde smiled. “Well aren’t you a flirt.”  
  
“Not really.”  
  
“I’m guessing you got suckered into this shit by a solid too, huh?” Sighing, Sakura nodded. “I’d be more than happy to...” She tapped the number on the table, “keep the weirdos at bay until you’re ready to split.”  
  
Sakura had to think about that. This girl didn’t seem crazy but the ones you never suspected had to be the craziest of all so she had to make sure. Ino didn’t look old but plastic surgery was a wonderful thing. Sakura overheard one of Hinata’s date conversations and some guy was in his forties and looked no older than twelve.  
  
“I understand that frown. You’re trying to discern, trying to figure out exactly how to ask me something, to make sure I’m not some rageahol fueled psychopath with six kids, like four ex-husbands and nineteen exotic pets.”  
  
Sakura couldn’t help but gulp, “ _a-are you_?”  
  
“Of course not, I only have eighteen exotic pets.” Sakura’s eyes widened. “Dude, _relax!_ I’m kidding! Absolutely no kids or pets to speak of and no exes of any kind which makes me sound a bit pathetic now that I voiced it out loud judging by your expression. I _might_ be fueled by rageahol though, just a bit.” Sakura sighed, “so that sigh gives me the opportunity to ask you questions about yourself or do I need to keep talking to fill the silence?”  
  
Sakura frowned. “I’ll talk. Lets see... no kids, I have a few pet fishes and a couple of ex-boyfriends.” She shrugged, “you’ve seriously never had an ex?”  
  
Ino nodded. “Seriously. No fucking joke man. It _sounds_ awful when you say it though. Usually people say it with such disgust which sounds a bit better than you saying it so confused. Is it really so confusing though? Should I be put through the wringer for not conforming to the notion that being in your ‘stupid years’ automatically means you gotta go through like fifty relationships and party all night drinking. I do that last part a bit – only a bit – and the drinking not really the partying and only because I work with my dad and he lets me drink sometimes. I don’t do relationships just because I _have_ to be in one—”  
  
Sakura held up a hand interrupting her, “I’m sorry... – _you’re a teenager_?”  
  
“Why? Aren’t you?”  
  
Groaning, Sakura rubbed her palm against her face slowly sliding it down to see Ino raising an eyebrow at her. “I am _so_ not a teenager. I... I feel _old._ ”  
  
“I’m gonna be twenty in a few months... if that helps?”  
  
“Believe me, it doesn’t. I’m ...I just turned twenty-eight.” Sakura scowled, “and don’t repeat that to anybody. Are we clear?”  
  
“We’re clear but I don’t see the point. Never really saw the point in anyone hiding their age.” Ino shrugged, “Well whatever your reason, you look good.”  
  
“Don’t you dare add _for my age_.”  
  
Ino grinned cheekily. “Do I look like the type of person who would do such a thing?”  
  
“Yes!” The blonde laughed. The bell chimed loudly overhead and they exchanged glances before Sakura sighed flipping the number over. “I suppose I could talk to you for another eight minutes.”  
  
Ino beamed, “great. So who suckered you into this?” Sakura jerked her head to her left. A blond was leaning back in his chair scowling. “Hey!” He turned to her then at Sakura then back to Ino.  
  
“So much for not being into girls—” Sakura kicked him. “Shit man, that hurt ttebayo.” He sighed, “so why are you with her?”  
  
“Mutual disdain for being forced to go to speed dating.”  
  
“Whatever she told you about me is a lie!” Ino rose an eyebrow and the blond cleared his throat. “Forget I said that. Name’s Naruto, _I_ did not sucker her into this on my own. I don’t wanna be here either. My stupid cousin forced me to tag-a-long.”  
  
“So you called in a solid Sakura owed you so you wouldn’t be forced alone?”  
  
“Bingo, you know Sakura-chan says blonds aren’t too bright but we sure proved her wrong!” Grinning, Naruto and Ino high-five as the bell chimed again.  
  
A black-haired guy stands behind Ino’s chair looks down at the table sighs then walks off dejectedly. “Did you see that? He looked like an abandoned puppy! I don’t know whether to cry or laugh.”  
  
“Do neither.” Ino turned back to her, “okay look. I find it surprisingly easy to talk to you.”  
  
“You sure know how to flatter a girl.” Ino says rolling her eyes.  
  
“Let me finish.” Sakura sighed, “this is gonna sound stupid and I have no intention of dating you by the way.”  
  
“Figured... with the whole you not being into girls thing? After you were outright scandalized by our age difference.”  
  
“I wasn’t— _wait_! You— _he—_ ”  
  
“Take a breather. Even if he didn’t say anything I kinda figured. Your flirting, as cute as it was, is platonic at best. Awkward but still platonic.”  
  
“I haven’t been _flirting_!”  
  
“Uh, yeah you were. No offense but I’m thinking you need to be here. Get some practice in.” Sakura glared at her. “Ouch. Okay. Maybe not. Just a suggestion.”  
  
“Well it was a terrible one.”  
  
“I noticed.”  
  
Then the bell chimed. To the left and to the right the daters paired with her friends got up. “You could always switch with me?” Naruto asked propping his head on the table turning to them. “I’m sure I’m much better company. Or Hinata-chan over there.” The blond pointed and Ino’s gaze followed to the navy-haired woman leaning back in her chair.  
  
Hinata looked up startled. “H-Hi?”  
  
“Hi.”  
  
“You two are gonna talk for another eight minutes? You know this makes ten overall dates, right Sakura-chan?”  
  
Sakura’s right eye twitched. “What does that mean? Everyone’s been here for nine dates. Well, I sort of slipped in late but _most people_ have been here for nine dates already.”  
  
“She told Hinata she didn’t want to be here listening to two hours worth of idiots talk about themselves.”  
  
Ino nodded, “I see.” Grinning, Ino flipped the number up on Sakura’s table. “Gotta get that lucky number ten, right?”  
  
“Wait a second!” The bell chimed and Ino slowly got up waving before walking off. Sakura turned to Naruto who shrugged before Hinata who looked just as confused as she was. “What the hell just happened here?”  
  
“I believe that was Ino-chan’s not so subtle way of passing you off to me.” Sakura stared at the pale black-haired male who took a seat in front of her. The name-tag on the guy read: _Sai_.  
  
“You know Ino? Like on a personal level?”  
  
“We go to school together.”  
  
Right, Sakura almost forgot Ino was technically jail-bait. Her eyebrows furrowed. “ _High school_?”  
  
Sai stared at her blankly. The stare was unnerving, like he could see through her or something. “Art school.” He said with a sigh. “In any event we shouldn’t be talking about someone else when _we_ are on a date.”  
  
“Right, so what should we talk about then?”  
  
They spent the remaining amount of time together talking about everything but nothing too deep for a ‘first date.’ When the bell chimed, Sai stood then kissed Sakura’s hand. “Very nice meeting you.” He said bowing then walked off.  
  
“He was kinda cute.” Hinata mused.  
  
“And not worth going to jail over.” Hinata stared at her questionably. “Dude, he’s definitely under the legal age.”  
  
“But over the age of consent.”  
  
“You really shouldn’t date anyone younger than your younger sibling.”  
  
“Is that a rule?!”  
  
Sighing, Sakura turned to Naruto. “Back me up here, will you? Is it okay for Hinata to check out guys – or girls – younger than her twenty-two year old sister?”  
  
“Yea? Why wouldn’t it be? I think you’re supposed to halve your age then add seven for younger and double your age and subtract seven for older.” The blond shrugged. “That’s what Jiraiya told me.”  
  
“When has any of his dating or romantic advice ever work?”  
  
“He writes books on that shit dattebayo, I’d say they work pretty damn well.”  
  
Sakura rolled her eyes. “I meant personal advice just for you?”  
  
“I don’t ask him for advice, I have better sense than that.” Sakura narrowed her eyes as he stuck his tongue out. “Just because his advice doesn’t work for you doesn’t mean it won’t work for someone else.”  
  
“You’re a little shit, you realize that don’t you?” Naruto nodded with a grin then the bell chimed again. Actually, the bell chimed several times – and fuck was it annoying!  
  
“ _Daters_!” The peppy voice came back on. “Hope you are enjoying yourself. Lets switch sides!” Sakura paled. She actually forgot about that! The pink-haired woman was hoping there was a way for her to slip out of here without being noticed. There was a huge crowd of people awkwardly switching sides all the while trying not to bump into each other. “There will be a five minute break before the dating continues!”  
  
“We need to get the hell out of here.”  
  
“Why?” Naruto leaned back in his seat. “There are some pretty interesting people around dattebayo.”  
  
“Well... I agree with Naruto-kun but I am getting hungry and I don’t see any food around—”  
  
“If we’re sneaking out to eat I’m all for that.”  
  
| |  
  
It took them three and a half of the alloted five minutes to locate Karin who was more than ready to leave. Sakura was adamant about getting the hell out of there with or without Karin but she was outvoted because the redhead was Naruto’s cousin and Hinata sometimes was just too damn good of a person.  
  
Ten fucking ‘dates’ and not a single prospect – though she could see herself, age difference notwithstanding, being friends with Ino. Alas they didn’t exchange contact information and Sakura hadn’t bothered sticking around to find out.  
  
The pink-haired woman showered upon getting into her apartment then gracelessly flopped onto her bed drifting to sleep. The four of them ate at an international restaurant conveniently next door to the location of the speed dating. Oddly enough, Naruto saw some of his ‘dates’ there so it was good to know the four of them weren’t the only ones that snuck out early.  
  
The next morning Sakura awoke to her phone’s screeching. Bolting upright, she snatches the phone up from her pillow (not remembering when it fell there) and answered before looking. “Hello?”  
  
 _“Damn you sound rough.”_ Great, Karin... she didn’t need this now. _“You working tonight?”_   
  
Sakura spared a glance at the clock that read 9:15am. She didn’t know what day it was but Naruto knew better than to ask her to hang out on a night before she had an early shift so she was either working in the afternoon or wasn’t working at all. “Let me check.” Sakura checked the calendar on her phone. “No. Why?”  
  
“ _Damn... I’m working a double and am bored as hell. Some of those speed dating guys called me. Did anyone call you?”_   
  
“How did they call you?”  
  
 _“Duh. When you sign up they take your contact information and distribute it to people who show an interest.”_ Sakura swore lowly. What if one of those weirdos tried to contact her?! Or worse... what if one of them found out her address? _“Hey, I hear you hyperventilating over the phone. Relax.”_ Sakura sighed. “ _Oh! Here comes the boss. I’ll call you on my break.”_   
  
“Alright.” Then they both hung up. Despite Karin’s penchant to annoy, they _did_ consider one another friends – but they probably wouldn’t admit it out loud though it was clearly implied. After all, Naruto was like a brother to Sakura as he was like a brother to Karin. If nothing else, he was a middle ground for both of them. And as good a reason as any to kick off a relationship of mutual tolerance. _Plus_ , they worked together and Sakura already hated enough of her co-workers she didn’t need to hate the one she saw more than the rest. Both at work and outside it.

Sakura glanced around her messy bedroom. Since she was off, she’d take to cleaning the place up. Speaking of places... there was talk of the four of them getting a house together but Sakura figured it was best they each had their own place. That way it would be easier to go to the closest home instead of scrambling to make it to their shared place. Besides, none of them even lived in the same town. Hell, they weren’t even in the same prefecture.  
  
The Hyūga district was in Osaka which was about an hour and a half away from Sakura’s apartment. Hinata didn’t live in the main house but it was some kind of bullshit tradition that she stayed on the family property. As the heir the shit was hers anyway but the house Hinata lived in was a good distance away from the main house. It was about an hour walk.  
  
Naruto might have lived in the middle because he was always around... yet always seemed to disappear.  
  
Meanwhile, Sakura was in Kyoto solely to be close enough to her job. A fifteen minute train ride away. There were closer options but Sakura was used to a certain lifestyle and those places did not meet expectations.

Gracelessly, Sakura got out of bed wondering why the hell she didn’t have a butler or a cleaning robot. She could afford it; both of them – possibly at the same time. Then she’d have to hire a cook too. Sakura sighed. She wasn’t in the mood for take-out so she’d do the next best thing. Pop over to the Hyūga district and sneak some free food~


End file.
